Shop owner says construction of Murray hotels hurting business

MURRAY — Construction of a pair of hotels in the city is scheduled to be complete in the summer of 2014, but that may be too long for some area businesses to survive.

The Curtis Foundation, 4901 S. State, sells items such as antiques, dishes and furniture. The money it makes goes to help The Odyssey House, a place where people can go to get help for substance abuse.

"We've been here for two years and have been consistently growing since we moved in," foundation director Kaye Lee Brady said. “When this (construction) began, everything just dropped off."

Brady said dirt coming in from the construction over the past four months has been very bad for business.

"There have been vibrations from the machinery, so stuff is falling off shelves. That's been a mess," she said.

Plus, the smell from a nearby sewer line is unbearable, Brady said, and some of the access points into the parking lot have been closed off.

"People can't see us, and we've lost two of our accesses,” she said. “There were four accesses into this parking lot, and we've lost two of those. The parking is extremely limited now, too.”

Brady said she has been told construction isn't scheduled to be finished until next summer, and she isn't sure if her business can survive that long.

"I don't know if we're going to be able to weather the storm," she said. "If it's going to be another three to five months, I don't know if we'll be able to make it."

Brady said her neighbors have also been affected by the construction, but many of those businesses have a steady group of customers. She doesn't.

Murray Mayor Dan Snarr said the new Hilton and Marriott hotels will fill a big need. People visiting loved ones at Intermountain Medical Center will have more options that will keep them close.

"The hospital is excited about (the hotels). They have a lot of people coming from outside the state that want a place to stay," Snarr said.